Prisoners Of War 1715-1945

In association with The National Archives, Findmypast is excited to present its Prisoners of war collection. The records are diverse and varied and comprise original source material provided by The National Archives, as well as transcript only records from other sources. The size and the scope of these records make them a fascinating resource for genealogists. The records not only include military personnel but also civilians, diplomats, missionaries and merchant seamen. You can find search tips and more details about the records below.

Learn about these records

In association with The National Archives, Findmypast has digitised and transcribed this collection. For each record you can view an image of the original document and a transcription of the information found in the document. Within the collection, there are a small number of records which only provide a transcript. These records were contributed by the Naval and Military Press and Brian Sims.

The amount of information in each record can vary depending on the type of document and the amount of detail recorded at the time of the event. You may or may not find some of the following information:

Transcript

Name

Many only include surnames. We recommend that you start your search with only a surname. In some records a title may be included in the first name, such as Herr or Freiherr.

Residence

Year

Service number

Birth place

Nationality

Rank

Rank as transcribed

Regiment as transcribed

Ship name

Prison camp or ship

Conflict

Archive reference

Document details

Image

The nature of these records varies greatly. In some, you will find lists of the names of prisoners; in others you will find detailed records of daily life of the prisoners including physical descriptions of your ancestors.

By viewing the original document you can reveal even more about your ancestor. The image will also help you to put the information into a wider context and understand why your ancestor’s name was recorded. Because of the diversity of the documents, you may find more than one record for an ancestor.

Use the arrows to the right and the left of the screen to browse through the rest of the document and discover more. All images are reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England.

This collection of records from The National Archives includes papers from the Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office, Admiralty and Air Force. The records include the names of thousands of prisoners from nations around the world. This is not a comprehensive list of every prisoner of war. There are additional transcript only records available in this collection from Naval and Military Press and transcripts created by Brian Sims.

Through the records you can gain insight into the experience of a prisoner of war. Some volumes include inspection reports of prison camps, which describe the buildings, provisions and equipment in detail.

Every branch of the military is represented – army, navy and air force. There are thousands of records of seamen being detained and records of whole crews of ships being held. Civilians and even missionaries, priests, nuns and friars can be found.

Prisoner of war

A Prisoner of war (POW) is either a combatant – or in many cases a non-combatant – who is captured or interned by a belligerent power. The prisoners remained very much a part of the war or conflict. They were used for propaganda, exploited for labour and in the past treated as the property of the enemy. Our current understanding of a prisoner of war is modern. In early wars, those captured were either killed or enslaved; the tradition of enslavement began to decline in the Middle Ages. It was not until the 18th century that new attitudes of morality and international law came forward and a person captured was no longer considered property.

The first declaration related to the treatment of POWs was in 1874, but it was not ratified. It would not be until 33 years later at the Hague Convention that western countries agreed on rules of conduct. During the First World War, the number of prisoners reached the millions and many nations violated these rules of conduct. After the war, in 1929 at the Geneva Convention in Switzerland, another declaration about the treatment of prisoners was signed by France, Germany, Great Britain, United States and others, but did not include the Soviet Union or Japan. The agreement was further ratified again after the Second World War in 1949.

ADM 103/117 Edinburgh. Various Nationalities. Includes prisoners at Edinburgh Castle, Greenlaw
and Esk Mills. Also includes registers of sick French and American prisoners, or prisoners employed to tend them. 1811-1813.

ADM 103/490 British and French prisoners of war. British prisoners at Lorient issued with 'slops',
1780 (?). French prisoners taken on a Hamburg ship and Prussian Galliot, 1810. British prisoners at
Dinan issued with'slops' 1780. English prisoners returned on the packet 'L'Heureux', 1780. French
prisoners taken by the ship 'Quebec', 1810. British prisoners at Amiens, 1779. British prisoners on
parole at Saumur, 1779. British prisoners on parole at Vitré, 1779.

ADM 103/491 Register of Escaped French POWs 1811-1814.

ADM 103/492 Register of Exchanged French POWs 1780-1797.

ADM 103/493 Register of Released or Exchanged French POWs 1793-1795.

ADM 103/494 Register of Released or Exchanged French POWs 1796-1797.

ADM 103/495 Printed register of French prisoners of war and prisoners released on parole, 1798-1799.

The list includes all The National Archive pieces itemised by archival reference and followed by the piece description.

MT 23/114 South African Prisoners of War, South African War. List of prisoners embarked between 4 and 21 March 1900.

MT 23/147 a) South African Prisoners of War, South African War. List of prisoners embarked as Cape Town on the 7th March 1902 for India. b) South African Prisoners of War, South African War. List of prisoners embarked at Durban for Cape Town between 13 and 17 March 1902.

WO 361/1745 Prisoners of war, Far East: casualties at sea, en route to Japan as prisoners of war, and in various prison camps

WO 361/1748 Prisoners of war, Far East: Royal Artillery personnel; post capitulation in Batavia; Java; died at sea en route to Japan; drowned off Nagasaki when transport was torpedoed, night of 24/25 June 1944

WO 361/1753 Prisoners of war, Far East: Thailand list by Major Tanner, Royal Army Service Corps; deaths

WO 361/1764 Prisoners of war, Far East: Ballale Island (Shortland Group, off New Guinea); investigation after 432 Royal Artillery bodies were found by Australian troops, linked with disappearance of Japanese ship transporting prisoners of war from New Britain, early March 1943; interrogation of the Japanese

WO 361/1939 Prisoners of war Far East: personal effects of deceased prisoners of war
WO 361/1940 Prisoners of war Far East: arrangements following Japanese surrender; nominal roll of No 25 camp Fukuoka and war diary; deaths at camp No 25 and camp No 6 Tanoura

In addition to the vast number of records and images from The National Archives, the Prisoners of war 1715-1945 also comprises transcripts provided by the Naval and Military Press as well as Brian Sims, an independent licensor. Below we have listed the record sets provided by sources outside of The National Archives.

Naval and Military Press

Prisoners of war 1939-1945 - British Army held in German territories

Prisoners of war 1939-1945 - British Navy & Air Force Officers

Prisoners of war 1939-1945 - Officers of Empire serving in British Army

British officers taken prisoner of war 1914-1918 - Records were transcribed from a volume printed by Messrs Cox & Co. (bankers and regimental agents) which provided information about officers of the Royal Air Force, Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Naval Division and officers of the Dominions. The aim of the original volume was to give advice and information to relatives of wounded officers of the British Expeditionary Force. A system evolved of obtaining all available information on officers reported as missing and this gradually became the main work of the enquiry office of Messrs Cox & Co.

Brian Sims

WWII escapers and evaders

This index points to the individual reports of allied service personnel evading capture or escaping from prisoner of war camps in Central Europe during the Second World War. Many of these reports were drawn up by M19 or British Military Intelligence Section 9, who specialised, among other things, in helping British and other allied servicemen trapped behind enemy lines. Apart from facilitating escapes from prisoner of war camps they also helped personnel, usually airmen, travel safely back to friendly or neutral states. As well as the British armed forces, many members of the Australian, Canadian, Cypriot, New Zealand and South African units are included as well as members of the Free French Forces and others.

The transcripts, created by Brian Sims, usually have a reference number for The National Archives series which holds the full individual reports. The pieces, within series WO208, covered by these records are as follows:

Search Tips

This collection includes a wide range of records from nominal rolls, death certificates, letters from the families of prisoners, official reports of camps and much more. For this reason, searching all the records at once can be difficult. We have provided some search tips to help you discover your ancestors:

Start with surname only – not all records will include a first name or may only have a first initial.

Use name variant – many of these records were created in foreign countries and it is possible they spelt your ancestor’s name incorrectly.

Limit your search by conflict – the records can be narrowed by Napoleonic Wars, World War One or World War Two.

After searching for a name and conflict, you can narrow your search further by selecting a country of imprisonment (or select multiple countries if you are unsure). Use the browse option to the right of the field and select the countries you wish to search.

Many of the records include rank, but not regiment. Furthermore, many of the ranks or regiments are abbreviated. For example, Cpt would be Captain. Search for both forms of the word.

Use the wild card search when searching for a regiment or rank. Add an asterisk on either side of the word you are searching. For example, searching for ()Lt(), will give you Lt, Fl/Lt and Sub Lt.

Use the keyword search to search the records by Nationality (American, French, Russian, etc), Birth place (Baltimore, Sussex, Cherbourg etc) or the names of vessels.